Gaming devices engage players in a game of chance. A player places a bet, e.g. by inserting money or some equivalent of value, and then actuates the gaming device thereby initiating the game of chance. The object of the game is to win money from the gaming device. One such popular gaming device is the slot machine.
A conventional electromechanical reel-spinning slot machine generally includes a plurality of mechanical rotatable reels controlled by a processor. Video slot machines operate the same way as conventional reel-spinning machines, but they use a video display with virtual reels rather than actual rotating reels.
With a reel-spinning slot machine, a player places a bet by inserting money or some equivalent of value, such as a bar-coded paper ticket, into a designated slot in the machine. Play is then initiated—usually by pulling a handle, pushing a button or pressing a key on a touchscreen. The reels spin and come to a stop. The slot machine displays the results of the spin. For each reel, the stop position, and the resulting symbol, is decided randomly and independently of the other reels by the random number generator program of the processor. A payoff is made to a player when a winning combination of symbols is displayed on the payline of the machine.
Slot machines come with varying numbers of reels and many have multiple pay lines. Most machines with multiple pay lines allow players to choose the number of lines to play. By placing the minimum bet, usually only the single line running straight across the reels, i.e. the main pay line, counts. If the player wagers more, he or she can play the additional horizontal lines above and below the main pay line or the diagonal lines running across the reels.
In order to stimulate player interest in such machines, additional features and novelties can be added to the basic slot machine. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,449,173 describes a supplemental payoff sequence during which the reel on which the wildcard symbol appears is caused to shake or jitter while coins fall into the trough as if money were being shaken off a tree. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,056,642 reel symbols are coloured by backlighting the symbols with coloured light bulbs or similar means. U.S. Pat. No. 6,517,433 describes a spinning reel slot machine with a video image superimposed upon the mechanical reels of the machine. U.S. Pat. No. 6,942,571 describes a mechanical slot machine with a touch screen overlay detecting touch on each reel to control the spin start/stop of each reel. It would therefore be desirable to enhance entertainment by providing features and visual effects that are out of the ordinary and interesting to players.